NASCAR is looking into a different points format beginning in 2027. Steve O’Donnell is supposedly fascinated by how many different formats Denny Hamlin can choke a championship in.
Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell have been docked 25 points and fined $10,000 for skipping the Championship Media press conference on Thursday.
This means Kyle Larson has clinched the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Josh Berry has been fined $50,000, docked 25 points, and forced to take a behavioral course following his on-track accident with Ryan Blaney.
Carson Hocevar receives no penalty.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will make his last official O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start in the season finale at Homestead. He will drive the #3 in a collaboration between JR Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing.
(3) JGR also claims the tow truck had JGR setups, noting that the tow truck seemed to be faster than others and handled better with a car hooked behind. Both JGR and Spire have declined further comments.
(2) JGR claims the tow truck driver gave the #77 an unfair advantage by driving quicker to the garage area, allowing the Spire crew to repair the #77 faster under the red flag and getting him out on the lead lap upon the resumption of the race.
NASCAR will be enforcing a new minimum speed rule for superspeedways in the Cup Series starting at next year’s Daytona 500. This is in response to the extreme fuel saving at Talladega where the field was going under 155 mph under race conditions.
NASCAR has been looking further at the Logano flip, with the intention of a new flap being added onto the c-post in the future. It would function much like the flap on the a-post.
Multiple Toyota and Ford teams have been penalized following the finish of Talladega after not helping Kyle Larson.
Exact penalties will be announced at a later date.
NASCAR officials have made the decision to end the race at the end of the first stage. They acknowledge that this package has been a failure and will make an official statement after the race.
In order to eliminate fuel saving, NASCAR officials have made the decision to remove stage cautions from this race. This opens up chances of new strategies without the guaranteed cautions.
Teams have been notified.
Truck and O’Reilly winner Sammy Smith will make his Cup Series debut today at Talladega, replacing Daniel Dye in the LiveFast Motorsports #78. He will attempt to sweep the weekend.
Peterson Racing has reportedly denied any claims that Harrison Burton will drive for the team in 2027.
I have attempted to get an official statement, but was denied as I have been blocked by the team.